The impact of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) on neurosurgical practice and training: a review article

Abstract

The 2019 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has affected all of society at different levels. Similarly, COVID-19 has significantly impacted every medical field, including neurosurgery. By exposing scarcities in the healthcare industry and requiring the reallocation of available resources towards the priority setting and away from elective surgeries and outpatient visits, the pandemic posed new, unprecedented challenges to the medical community. Despite the redistribution of resources towards COVID-19 patients and away from elective surgeries, urgent and emergent surgeries for life-threatening conditions needed to be continued. The neurosurgical community, like other specialties not directly involved in the care of COVID-19 patients, initially struggled to balance the needs of COVID-19 patients with those of neurosurgical patients, residents, and researchers. Several articles describing the effect of COVID-19 on neurosurgical practice and training have been published throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This article aims to provide a focused review of the impact COVID-19 has had on neurosurgical practice and training as well as describe neurological manifestations of the disease.

Medical Tourism Challenges After the Prevalence of COVID-19: The Neurosurgery Field

“…This field has been investigated in a few studies despite its high number of patients. 18,19 The results indicated that some neurosurgery patients chose Iran as a medical tourism destination for medical reasons and others for non-medical reasons, and they were even willing to travel to Iran and undergo medical treatment during the outbreak of COVID-19.…”

The significant impact of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on in-hospital mortality of elderly patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury: A retrospective observational study

“…In a qualitative study by Karimi et al, the Iranian nurses were confronted with fear, anxiety, and major distress anticipating their death and the death of family members. Meanwhile, others dealt with staff shortage as well as lack of support and equipment [40] , [41] . In a qualitative study done on nurses’ experiences during the outbreak, there was a perception of high-risk in working in the hospital environment because of the continual ambiguity of questioning who was infected, especially considering there is no definitive treatment for COVID-19 [40] .…”

How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted clinical care and research in Neuro-Oncology?

“…Concerns about TSS increased after a patient in China developed COVID-19 disease post-pituitary surgery leading to an outbreak involving 14 staff members (though this was likely post-operative transmission). (71) Many centres avoided performing these surgeries or converted to a transcranial approach unless required for emergency cases (32,36,65,68,(72)(73)(74)(75)(76)(77)…”